Iceland's Söngvakeppnin 2024: Væb and Anita to the Final

Iceland has started the journey of choosing their act for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö.

Tonight five artists performed during the first Semi-final of Söngvakeppnin 2024, and once all of the televotes were counted Væb with "Bíómynd" and Anita with "Stingum af" were announced as the night's qualifiers.

The show was broadcast live from the Truenorth Studios, and was hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson, and Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson.

Söngvakeppnin 2024

Once again, the Icelandic national final Söngvakeppnin is made up of two semi-finals and a final. All three shows take place in the Truenorth Studios in Reykjavik and are hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir, Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson, and Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson.

• 17 February: First semi-final
• 24 February: Second semi-final
• 2 March: Final

10 artists are competing to be the representative for Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö. Five acts will perform in each of the two Semis, with two advancing to the Final. After the second Semi-final, the broadcaster has the option of adding a wildcard fifth finalist. The voting is made up of 100% televote.

Icelanders against Eurovision 2024 participation

About half of the Icelandic citizens are against Iceland's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, according to a fresh poll from Gallup, published by Icelandic RÚV.

And it's all about Israel and the Israel-Hamas war.

If Israel didn't compete in Eurovision 2024, it wouldn't be an issue. Half of the respondents are against Iceland's participation in Eurovision 2024, while three out of 10 are in favor of it. About a fifth didn't take a stand.

About 80% of those who said they were against Iceland's participation in Eurovision expressed that they would agree to participate if Israel were banned from participating.

Due to the Israel-Hamas war, the Icelandic broadcaster has opened up the idea of withdrawing from the contest. The decision will be made jointly by the broadcaster and the winner of Söngvakeppnin 2024.

In other words: It isn't certain that we'll see Iceland on the Eurovision stage in May.

Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Iceland's debut in the Eurovision Song Contest was back in 1986, and they've participated 35 times since.

Their best results are two second-place finishes with Yohanna in 2009, and Selma in 1999.

Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Iceland has qualified for the Grand Final 11 out of 19 times.

Iceland is the only Northern European country that has yet to win the Eurovision Song Contest.